Joel di Bartolo - Serious Electric Bass

This book is dedicated to: My daughters, Adriana and Cristina, and all of my students.

Special thanks to: Aaron Stang and everyone at Warner Bros. Publications, Rick Gordon, Dean Taba, Tim Emmons, Liz Story, Arlo Chan, Dick Grove, Dr. Russell Di Bartolo, June Lehman and Kathy Piazza.

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by

Michael Manring

If you're serious about the electric bass, this is the book for you!

In Serious Electric Bass you'll find all you need to know about chords, scales and modes: not only how to play them, but also how they function and how to use them in real musical situations. Joel Di Bartolo, who spent over 20 years in the LA studio scene (18 of them on The Tonight Show star- ringJohnny Carson), has done us bassists a great favor by putting together all the harmonic information we need in a coherent and easy to read form organized specifically for the bass guitarist. A veritable encyclopedia of harmonic patterns, Serious Electric Bass de-mystifies the world of scales and chords and will help you understand all of the tonal patterns used in music today.

The great thing about Joel's approach in Serious Electric Bass is the comprehensive way he connects harmonic information to knowledge of the fingerboard. Every scale and chord is presented together with its corresponding fingering patterns and shapes. This will greatly expand your conception of the instrument by helping you to develop the ability to visualize various forms of scale and chord patterns on the bass. Joel also explains the harmonic functions of each scale and how specific scales relate to specific chords. These are the missing pieces of information for students who have a basic grasp of a number of scales but not much idea about when and how to use them. Boy, I wish I had this book when I was a student!

Also included is some extremely valuable information about setting up and maintaining your bass. I've found that the ability to perform minor repairs and adjustments on your instrument is absolutely essential for any working musician. While there is, of course, no substitute for the work of a trained and talented instrument technician, you just never know when something will go wrong when there isn't one around-like just before the last set at a gig way out in the boondocks! I definitely suggest paying close attention to the information presented in the first chapter and developing an active relationship with the day-to-day health of your bass.

One word of caution: I wouldn't recommend planning on blazing through this book in a few weeks. There is a wealth of information here and it all deserves careful and patient study. Plan on keeping Serious Electric Bass around for many years to refer and re-refer to as your understanding of and fluency in these patterns develops. I hope your copy, like mine, will end up nicely worn in, sitting in it place where it is easily accessible in you practice area.

Using a gradual and steady approach, I think you'll find that Serious Electric Bass will help you develop an understanding of the information that you need for any kind of musical situation you might find yourself in. The real benefit to having a thorough understanding of harmonic patterns on the bass is that it will help to support your creative process. As you develop a greater understanding of the mechanics of harmony and the ability to visualize tonal patterns on the fingerboard, you are building tools for developing your own personal sense of musical expression and opening the way to making some very cool music!

Best of luck, Michael

You are soloing all day, every day!

"I'm soloing all day, every day? What are you joking?"

No, I'm not joking. Every day, from the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, you are taking solos-language solos-for our purposes, English solos, the language you are reading and understanding right now. Unless you've written and memorized a script the night before, every word you say during the day is said as a result of something you happen to be thinking or in response to something said to you. You might start a conversation by saying "How are you?," or you might respond to same question that is asked of you by saying "I'm fine." Clear question, clear answer.

You can do this because you understand every word that you say and every word that is said to you. In fact, when you are speaking, you rarely think about each individual word. You don't have to any more. You know how to combine the sounds of the language into words, phrases and sentences that are understood by people who speak the same language. If you can't find the exact word to convey what you are trying to say, you can either ask for help or go and look it up yourself. If someone says something that you don't quite understand, you can ask them to say it in different ways until you understand it perfectly. No problem. You've been taking language solos for years!

If you can think it, you can say it. If you can hear it and understand it, you can respond to it.

The building blocks that create both spoken and musical languages are very similar. Check out this list.

1. Both use the same alphabet. English uses A to Z. Music uses A to G.

2. Both can be written down and read by others.

3. Both have a basic vocabulary. English has simple words. Music has simple scales and triads-a basic sonic vocabulary.

4. Both have expanded vocabularies that add clarity, variety and impact to what you are saying or playing. English has "big words." Music has exotic sounding scales and chords.

5. Both require that things be spelled a specific way to be understood. The word bass is always spelled b-a-s-s. An F chord is always spelled F-A-C.

6. English has phrases. Music has melodic and rhythmic phrases.

7. English has statements. Music has the melody.

8. English has stories. Music has songs.

9. Stories have paragraphs which divide them up. Songs have sections that divide them up-the intro, letter A, letter B, coda.

10. English has dialects. You can tell if someone is from Tennessee or New York! Music has styles.

11. Plays have scripts that you memorize. Our music has chord progressions, bass lines and solos that you memorize. As your sonic vocabulary and your technique on the bass grow, you'll be able to write your own scripts using every ounce of creativity you have.

Your ability to communicate clearly, effectively and creatively depends entirely upon how well you understand the language you are speaking. Our language, as musicians, is the language of music. This book was written to help you to enhance you ability to think, speak, hear and understand the language of music on the bass.